


experiment/practice/unlearn

by kerberastro



Category: Dimension 20 (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, aelwyn's non-canonical puppy, i spell it like aelwyn fuck you, let aelwyn and fabian be friends!!!, thank u twitter for this god tier concept
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:49:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24026902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kerberastro/pseuds/kerberastro
Summary: fabian is unintentionally inspiring. aelwyn casts a new spell. adaine lends a hand.
Relationships: Adaine Abernant & Aelwen Abernant, Aelwen Abernant & Fabian Aramais Seacaster
Comments: 13
Kudos: 89





	experiment/practice/unlearn

**Author's Note:**

> long time no d20 fic!! this was a conversation that happened over on twitter a few weeks ago about aelwyn summoning a puppy as a familiar and i Had to write something for it because it was just too cute and endearing!! also i just. love aelwyn and she deserves to grow and learn and be happy :')

Mordred Manor is… comfortable. 

Aelwyn knew a different kind of comfort in her home growing up. She knew white walls and windows that reached the tippity top of high ceilings, marble countertops and spiralling staircases, steel gray and robin's egg blue. Spotless and orderly and _oh, so quiet_ was the Abernants’ residence, and that was what felt like home to Aelwyn. 

Mordred Manor had been a big change for her. It was all worn in couches and mismatched coffee cups. It was noisier, too; always a hum of lively conversation happening somewhere, a burst of giggles coming from somewhere else, and the ever-present _thumps_ of Fig plucking away on her bass. Mordred Manor’s fireplace always crackled brightly in the evenings, and card games were often held, and there was always, _always,_ someone to talk to. 

Fabian would even come to visit sometimes, and it wasn’t a matter of sneaking him in through the window, as she’d been known to do in the past with others that she’d had small flings with. Fabian could just knock on the front door, no sweat, because everyone in the house loved Fabian, and he was always welcome to come over. Aelwyn being there was just a bonus. 

Needless to say, it had taken some getting used to, but Aelwyn truly appreciated the warm welcome she’d received when she’d first moved in. Not to mention the immediate suggestion to install bunk beds up in Adaine’s sweet little tower bedroom, something Aelwyn would have _gagged_ at the thought of just a year ago. 

They really had come so far. 

Aelwyn and Adaine’s evenings were often spent in their room, studying, reading, playing games on their crystals, prepping spells for the next day. They didn’t usually talk much, as they both had their headphones on most of the time, but on one night in particular, Aelwyn was surprised to see her sister’s small hand reach down from the top bunk, holding a scroll of paper, tied with a blue ribbon. 

“What’s this?” Aelwyn asks, brow raised. 

She hears some shuffling noises above her before Adaine flips her head down to look at Aelwyn from above her, her blonde ponytail hanging behind her head. Aelwyn quietly notices that her sister’s hair has gotten a bit longer. 

“It’s a spell I thought you might like to learn. You don’t have to use it, of course, but I thought you might be interested.” Adaine says with a small shrug. 

“Hm,” Aelwyn unfurls the page. Inside, written in Adaine’s neat, loopy handwriting with a glittery gel pen, is exactly how to cast the Find Familiar spell. 

As she begins to read, Adaine continues, “Boggy has been a really big help to me, and I was thinking that having a familiar might be useful for you as well. Just like, for comfort, maybe. If not for anything else.” 

Aelwyn had never even considered learning Find Familiar, even though it was a first level spell. She’d always figured that she didn’t need a familiar; that her magic alone was powerful enough and she didn’t need the extra boost. Plus, when did she _ever_ engage in combat? She didn’t go to Aguefort; she's no adventurer. 

Familiars are, more than anything, a helping hand, she realizes. So perhaps, and she was reluctant to admit it, it was just her petrifying fear of asking for help stopping her. Wanting help from another was a sign of weakness. That was what her parents had perpetuated in her mind, anyways, but Adaine was _the_ Elven Oracle, and she had a familiar; a _frog_ , no less. 

She would have to get a closer look at this spell. 

“I’ll see if anything… if anything speaks to me,” she says quietly as she continues to examine the page. “Thank you,” she adds, a bit sheepishly. 

“Sure.” Adaine says, giving a little smile before pulling herself back onto the top bunk. 

—

“How about a snake? That’d be pretty dope.”

“Mm, yes, snake is definitely up there on my list already. I think a girl with a snake is rather endearing, isn’t it?” 

“Yeah. Kinda intimidating, too. It would suit you.” 

Aelwyn is with Fabian. They aren’t making out; they aren’t doing _anything,_ really. They’re in the kitchen at Mordred Manor, sitting across from each other at the table. Lately, they haven't been hooking up as much. It was… less fun than she’d originally thought it would be, and she felt like shit after the fact. But she liked Fabian. She liked just talking to him, she liked (or, tolerated) his dumb jokes, liked catching the end of his Bloodrush practices, then peeling off on the Hangman and grabbing coffees. He felt more like a friend lately. Or maybe, just someone to rant about her past at, and then, sometimes, for him to do the same. 

“Fancy me intimidating, do you?” Aelwyn asks with a smirk. She knows she’s intimidating, but she kind of just likes hearing people say it. 

Fabian looks up from his crystal. “I mean, yeah, certainly,” he replies, practically deadpanning. “Well, I mean, only a little bit. More so when we’d only just met. Now, it’s like… I dunno. It’s almost as if you’re just like… a puppy, y’know? Deep down, you just want love. It’s sweet. It’s a side of you I didn’t know was there.” 

With that, he looks back down at his crystal as if he hadn’t just said something that had entirely knocked the wind out of Aelwyn. She cocks her head to the side. _What an odd thing to say,_ she thinks, _and yet… it’s groundbreaking._

“Noted.” Aelwyn says after a beat, a glint of inspiration in her eyes. “Very much noted.”

—- 

The next morning, Aelwyn is out in the garden, plucking herbs and sticking them in her jacket pocket. And then she’s asking if Kristen has any incense she can “borrow”. And then she’s scraping charcoal from the fireplace. And then she’s laying her components out in a circle drawn in chalk, high elven runes glowing bright blue. And then she’s waiting and concentrating and waiting and concentrating and speaking in Elvish; an incantation to bring her new friend to life. 

Casting time: one hour. 

—

Aelwyn’s eyes roll back into place at last, the white glow leaving them as she finishes casting the spell. She rolls her shoulders back as she notices that she’d been slouching, and they crackle a bit, which she cringes at. 

She peers forward into a cloud of pale pink mist that she’d conjured where a vague shape takes form. It’s small, about the size of three or four apples stacked on top of each other, and Aelwyn catches herself holding her breath in hopes that her spellcraft had been powerful enough to create what she’d had in mind. The mist clears slowly, painstakingly, and when it does, Aelwyn is met with a pair of vibrant blue eyes, almost seeming to sparkle with arcane energy, along with a tiny bark. 

Before her is a beautiful golden retriever, with silky fur and a speedily wagging tail, floppy ears and a tongue hanging from a panting, almost smiling mouth. A puppy. She takes a quick peek downward. A _girl_ puppy. 

“Ah.” Aelwyn says at last, clearing her throat, looking the puppy square in the face, still with about three feet in between them. “My familiar. You shall help me with my magic, do you understand?” Aelwyn tells the puppy, who seems to not respond, only tilts her little head to the side with a look of confusion. 

She tries again. “You are my _familiar_. I am Aelwyn Abern- er, I guess, O'Shaughnessy? Whatever. My name is Aelwyn, and you’ll answer to me.” 

Still nothing. _Ugh, great. A broken familiar._

Aelwyn is so puzzled that she doesn’t even notice the sounds of approaching footsteps and creaky floorboards, and it’s at that very moment that the bedroom door opens, and Adaine walks into the room. 

“A _puppy?_ ” She asks with a gasp, grinning from ear to ear. _This is the last thing Aelwyn needs right now._

“ _Shh,_ I’m trying to get her to listen to me.” Aelwyn says out the side of her mouth. “Familiar!” She exclaims, attempting some sort of hand gesture that still does not elicit any further reaction from the puppy. 

“Goodness, well, you won’t get very far if you treat her so coldly.” Adaine sighs, shaking her head. She walks around the rune circle and gingerly kneels down next to her sister. 

“What do you mean, _coldly?_ ” Aelwyn asks as she crosses her arms. 

“I just mean that you’re addressing her like she’s some sort of… I don’t know, like a _machine._ ” Adaine says. “Your familiar is your _friend_. Think of the personality of a puppy, they’re sweet, and they just want to have fun and feel loved, y’know?” She explains. “Ooh! Try scratching behind her ear.” 

Aelwyn narrows her eyes. “But that would be… _gratifying_ to her. She didn’t do anything to deserve a scratch behind the ear, she just sat there.”

“I know. Just… try to think of it as a practice in love without expectation.” Adaine says with a knowing look, and suddenly it’s almost painful to meet her eyes. Aelwyn remembers the Nightmare Forest, and she remembers what Adaine had said to her in that horrifying moment. Expectation without love. Love without expectation. She takes a deep breath. 

She reaches out, cautiously with a stiff hand, and tucks her fingers behind the puppy’s ear, giving a slight scratch. It doesn’t take much else for the puppy to immediately lean into her touch and close her eyes. As she does so, though, Aelwyn swears she can see, while almost imperceptible, a faint glowing outline appearing around her familiar’s silhouette. 

“Hm. Interesting.” Aelwyn mutters to herself. “Uh… good… good puppy?” She says, still unsure. At that, the glow becomes the tiniest bit brighter in a quick pulse. 

“It’s working,” Adaine says, almost just to herself, sounding utterly fascinated. She stares at the puppy as if she’s trying to solve a math problem in her head. 

Aelwyn furrows her brows, her arcane-savvy mind taking down mental notes. _Encouragement to familiar increases magical properties?_

“Um… hm. Okay.” She nods. “C’mere, girl!” She tries, patting her lap, and instantly, the puppy rushes up to her, barking happily as she jumps up and begins licking Aelwyn’s face, from which she shies away, turning her face to look at Adaine. 

“I think she likes you,” Adaine says quietly, a soft smile on her face. 

“And for no good reason.” Aelwyn adds between ceaseless puppy licks. “Why?”

“Isn’t that the whole point?” Adaine counters, not defensively by any means, but rather gently, in an attempt to help Aelwyn understand. “Don’t you see? She doesn’t need any good reason to love you, and yet she still does. I think your own magic may be trying to tell you something,” she says. “Or maybe… teach you something?” 

Aelwyn, slightly less, but still perplexed, doesn’t respond; she only continues petting the puppy in her lap, her motions still less than fluid. She’d never known a friendship like that, or any relationship for that matter. All her life, everything had to be earned, to be deserved, to be worked for; everything right down to the love of her parents (with which, in retrospect, is hard to say whether or not what her parents had felt and expressed towards her was love). This was different, and she’d even venture to say that maybe the world was different, and she just hadn’t learned that yet. Or perhaps, everything she’d been taught by her parents in her childhood was wrong, and it was a matter of _unlearning_ their ways. 

Aelwyn doesn’t even notice that she’s getting choked up until she instinctually swallows the lump forming in her throat. 

“What are you gonna name her?” Adaine whispers. 

Aelwyn takes a beat, but she knows her answer. “Millie.” She replies with a firm, matter-of-factly nod. “Short for familiar.” 

“Huh,” Adaine says, “I mean, that’s… still kinda cold.”

“Oh, please. It’s cute and you love it.”

Adaine laughs. “It is, and I do.” 

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading!!! hmu on tumblr @ jolenethegreen


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